Abstract

The Introduction - apart from making explicit the rationale for the structure of the volume - it reviews the broader context of the developments in mass communication and the mass media. It focuses particularly on the differentiation, the reservations and the diversity of attitudes towards European Union and EU institutions, expressed politically through the variety of attitudes toward the Constitutional Treaty by the citizens in different EU countries.

The Introduction underlines that the ambivalence of the European citizens cannot be explained and should not be interpreted in a univocal and simplifying manner, since the data from the various countries show that there is a variety of motives and factors with seemingly similar results. Civilization and culture should also be considered since they are of particular importance for the European identity, which - in its turn - is a condition for the construction of Europe.

Finally, the chapter raises several questions concerning the functions of the mass media considering the change of the "techno-economic" as well as of the cultural paradigm of the European Union and in view of the European integration.